Constant Contact Best Practices Blog

The September issue of our Hints & Tips Email Marketing newsletter covers two important areas of your email campaigns: subject lines and calls to action (CTA). This month you'll get approaches for both in Gina Watkins' article and learn what words to use and avoid in an interview with professional copywriter Bob Bly.

Read the newsletter here.

Ever wonder what’s on your customers’ minds? I’m sure you do – they’re your bread and butter. But for some reason, you don’t ask them. Well, thanks to a recent survey we conducted here at Constant Contact, I now get why.

Can you guess the number one challenge that’s stopping the majority of small businesses from getting feedback from their customers (besides time of course!)?

Hello! I'm Caroline Shahar from Constant Contact. I'm new to this blog, but if you've taken one of our educational webinars, you may have already heard from me (read my bio to learn more). Anyone who knows me knows I'm passionate about helping small businesses and nonprofits succeed, and I hope you find my posts here helpful. To that end, please let me know what you like and don't like. Any and all feedback is helpful. And that brings me to my first post...

This is a question that we are asked often here at Constant Contact. Understandably, everyone (including myself) is looking for a silver bullet that will result in higher open and click-through rates.

There are reports available that can tell you what has worked for others (eROI put one out each quarter in 2007), but the truth is that it varies—the quarterly reports showed a different day as the winner each month. While there is no absolute, there are some best practices to consider when it comes to when to send. 

Looking for some great examples of email marketing? Check out our newly-updated examples page on the website to see how different types of businesses and organizations are using email marketing. Some of these examples also have accompanying success stories. Here are a few:

Back in February, I blogged about Daily Candy, that wildly successful email newsletter company that sends out daily doses of info on fashion, food, and “fab” things to do to more than 2.5 million readers.

Well, there is now more to this story. If you didn’t hear already, this business—built entirely on newsletters—was purchased last Thursday by Comcast for $125 million. Wow! 

Congrats to Daily Candy. Their success just proves what we all know to be true—email newsletters rock!

Want to keep the people on your list reading your emails? One of the best ways to do it is by segmenting your list and communicating in a more targeted way with each group. This month's Hints & Tips newsletter explains the benefits of segmentation and gives ideas and examples on how to do it.

How do you segment your list? How do you communicate differently with each group? What positive results have you seen? Tell us about it!

Every day when I get home from work, I do four things… 

1. Greet my black lab who meets me at the door
2. Greet my husband who meets me at the top of the stairs
3. Put down my extremely heavy bag
4. Go to the kitchen table to riffle through the pile of mail waiting for me

When I get to number four, I always find myself hoping that there is something really interesting, or personal, or special waiting for me—like a card or invitation from a friend or family member, or maybe a little unexpected gift (I love presents!). Why I keep hoping, I don’t know, because at least 90% of what’s in the pile is JUNK. Can you relate?

This month's Hints & Tips Email Marketing newsletter focuses in on list building. You'll get best practices to follow and fresh ideas for growing your list.

Read the July issue here.

How do you grow your email list? Share your ideas by making a comment below. We want to hear from you!

Have you ever wondered about the future of email marketing? You aren't alone. It's an active discussion at email marketing events and among marketing professionals. Larry Chase, the publisher of the free newsletter Web Digest for Marketers recently interviewed some of the top researchers in the industry about the future of this beloved communication channel. Read Larry 's article.

Earlier this year, Loren McDonald of Silverpop wrote an article on the subject as well. He addresses the fear that Gen Y may not rely on email like the adult world does (he says they will). Read Loren's article.